Diaphragm for railway coaches



J8 J. TRUMPBOUR 2'042914 DIAPHRAGM FOR RAILWAY COACHES Filed March 7, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l f4 INVENTOR. A/j K T (id/r1 Jimeg, 313%- J. T. TRuMPBouiQ 2,042,914

DIAPHRAGM FOR RAILWAY COACHES Filed March 7, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

James? rum 0 02/];

Patented June 2, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to diaphragms for railway coaches such as are used for connecting the vestibules of'adjacent cars on a train. An object of the invention is to provide a diaphragm which 1 is light and flexible and to provide a diaphragm made in sections which can be separately assembled and removed. Another object of the invention is to provide a diaphragm in which the central sections of the diaphragm are supported independently of the material forming the diaphragm itself; another object of the invention is tosupport the frame of the intermediate sections of the diaphragm by a sliding'or rolling support. Other objects of the invention will be more particularly understood from the accompanying drawings illustrating one form of my invention and the following specifications:

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is an end'view of a railway-coach provided with the usual form of diaphragm and in which my invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the end of a coach corresponding to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the diaphragm showing one method of supporting the intermediate member'; Fig. 3a. is a detail modification of the support; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a double fold diaphragm constructed according to my invention;.Fig. 5 is a sectional detail showing the construction of the removable corner of the diaphragm; Fig. 6 shows one side of the frame members which are used to support and' clamp the fabric. of the diaphragm; Fig. 7 is a cross-section of a portion of the diaphragm; Fig. 8 is another cross-section of a portion of the diaphragm showing one method of securing the fabric to the frame; Fig. 9 is a sectional detail showing the construction used where two portions of fabric are secured to each other; Fig. 10 is a developed plan view of the fabric for the top portion of the diaphragm; Fig. 11 is a plan view of the fabric for the legs and Fig. 12 is a developed plan view of the corner sections which connect the topand side sections to make a complete enclosure.

One form of the diaphragm to which the invention relates is provided with an end plate secured to the body of the car at the inner end and is provided with a face plate at the outer end which registers with and bears against a corresponding face plate on the adjoining car. The face plate is supported at the bottom by a sliding member and at the top by a spring, these members holding it vertical and in engagement with the abutting face plate of the adjoining car. The diaphragm yields to the variations of movement between the cars and must therefore be flexible and, at the same time, must not obstruct the passage between the cars.

The established practice has been to use a heavy, three ply, canvas for the fabric diaphragm, treated with an impregnation to make it waterproof and with another impregnation to make 'it substantially fireproof so as to avoid danger from fire arising from sparks from the locomotive. It is found in practice that this type of diaphragm wears very quickly into holes at the corners and becomes frayed and torn. The construction is such that in order to repair defects of this kind it is necessary to remove the entire diaphragm and then remove the canvas so that it may be patched. This process is expensive and does not warrant making repairs except of a minor character.

In the present invention the diaphragm is preferably made from light stock, such as two ply belting canvas, which is much more flexible than the heavier three ply stock and can stand greater flexing. In order to make the use of this lighter stock practical and to avoid undue strain on the fabric, the frames of the intermediate sections of the diaphragm are supported from the top, these sections being free to move with the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm but without loading these intermediate sections with the weight of the frame.

The diaphragm is constructed with a separate portion of fabric for the top and for each leg or vertical member. These sections are joined at the corners. by a removable corner piece which is suitably laced to the other sections. These removable corners are so constructed that they can be replaced without disturbing any other part of the diaphragm and hence repairs to the corners are easily and cheaply made. Each of the other sections of the diaphragm may be separately replaced when necessary, as the attachment is similar to the corners.

The single support of the frames of the diaphragm through the top centre line, suspends the weight of the diaphragm and leaves the sides free to expand and contract on curves. The sides are not rigidly supported or aligned and are free to adjust themselves to the deflection between the ends of adjoining cars. The support at the top is balanced and the strain on the frames and fabric is equally distributed.

In the drawings l l is the car roof, I 2 is the body of the car and I3 is the face plate of the diaphragm. The lower end of the face plate is supported by a sliding door member M which slides over the coupling l5 between the cars. The upper portion of the face plate I3 is provided with a cleat member I6 which is engaged by the leaf spring ll, the ends of this spring being supported by the cleats l8 and I9 secured to the roof of the car. This spring construction holds the diaphragm expanded and the face plate I3 in engagement with the face plate of the other car.

'of intermediate frames ,tion in Fig. 8.

The inner end of the diaphragm is secured to the end plate 22 which is attached to the car and the diaphragm comprises the flexible sections 23 and 24 separated by the frame 29. These sections are attached to the end plate 22 and the face plate l 3. It should be observed that in some cases more than two folds are used in the diaphragm although a diaphragm of two folds only is shown in the drawings. In order to support the intermediate frame member 20 independently of the fabric forming the diaphragm, an eye 21 is secured to the intermediate member 20, Figs. 3, 4, and 7 and through this eye the stem or horizontal bar 26 projects and slides freely. Stem 26 is preferably secured to the cleat l6 which carries the spring I! and the stem itself may pass through theleaves of the spring to secure the spring in place by the collar 26a as indicated in Fig. 3. Stem 26 may be provided with a cap 28 and should not be long enough to engage the car roof when the spring is compressed. It is obvious that the stem 26 may be fastened to the car instead of the face plate 63 for the purpose intended and it may be of sufiicient length to engage any number The modified support in Fig. 3a provides the roller 41. engaging the stem 26 and through the frame 48 and the link 49 the eye 21 of the frame is supported by the roller and is free to move in any direction. The roller support reduces wear and, what is of more importance, it reduces noise under the continuous movement of the diaphragm. The link 49, provides for a universal movement of the diaphragm with a minimum of friction and noise. A form of frame for connecting the sections of the diaphragm is indicated in Fig. 6, but as far as the support for the diaphragm is concerned, the frame may be of any form, or may comprise the ridge formed by the abutting edges of a pair of sections .to which the eye 21 is attached. It will be noted that the stem 25 is secured at one end and is free to move with relation to the intermediate sections of the diaphragm as the distance between the pair of adjoining cars is varied. The stem 26 as shown,

;is placed on the vertical centre of the diaphragm so that the diaphragm is balanced on its support.

Fig. 8 shows one form of fastening that may be used for securing the canvas to the frame. This comprises the frame member 35 which is provided with a flange to receive the edges of the folds 23 and 24, these edges being clamped in place by the batten 31 and the bolts 32, which are placed comparatively close together as indicated by the drilling of the frame members in Fig. 6. The edges ,of the canvas where they overlap without the supporting frame, as at the corners, Fig. 5, may be secured to each other as indicated in Fig. 9, in which the sheets (a) and (b) are first preferably provided with eyelets or grommets as indicated at .42, and the sheets are then clamped by the washers 40 and 4| by means of the screw 39. By removing these screws the sheets are easily taken apart.

Fig. 6 shows one half portion of the frame members of the diaphragm corresponding with the sec- Th batten member is made in separate sections, the top section being indicated by 36 and the corner section by 38 and the legs by 31, this enables the corner or top section to be removed with the corresponding fabric while the frame member 35 remains in place.

The top section of the fabric is indicated by (w) the side sections by (b) and the corner sections by (c). These are assembled as indicated in Figs. 4 and by attaching the corner section to the section (1)) at 46 and to the section (a) at 45, with the upper sections overlapping the lower sections 5 as indicated in Fig. 5 to shed the rain.

By removing the bolts holding the corners 45 and 46 to the other fabric, these corners can be removed and replaced with fresh corners. In the same way the top section may be removed after the bolts at 45 and the bolts attaching this part to the frame are removed and each of the legs may be removed and replaced in a similar manner without removing the diaphragm from its place on the car. The lower ends of each leg is pro-. vided with a leather foot indicated at 5|. The invention may be applied with other weights of canvas or with other material for the diaphragm and it may be varied in the details of its application without departing from the spirit and intent thereof.

In use, it will be noted that the diaphragm swings sideways on a curve due to the movement of the car ends, and on grades it swings vertically. The frame necessary for the sections has considerable weight and the sections are subject to this constant movement'as the train runs on the track. The frame of the intermediate sections is supported by the eye on the horizontal shaft, thus enabling a lighter and more flexible canvas to be used for the covering. The spring I! holds the sections transversely in tension and the support 27 relieves the section of vertical tension.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A diaphragm for railway coaches comprising a covering made in folds of comparatively light, flexible fabric, a frame between said folds and to which said folds are secured, a face plate for one end of said diaphragm, the opposite end of said diaphragm being connected to the coach, 40 a stem projecting from said face plate and a support depending from said stem for said frame.

2. A diaphragm for railway coaches comprising a covering made in folds of comparatively light,

flexible fabric, a frame between said folds and to which said folds are secured, a face plate for the outer end of said diaphragm, a spring for applying tension to said face plate, a cleat on said face plate engaging said spring, a stem projecting from said cleat and a movable support mounted on said stem for said frame.

3 A diaphragm for railway coaches comprising a plurality of folds of comparatively light, flexible fabric, a frame separating said folds and to which said folds are attached, a spring applyingtransverse tension to said folds, said folds being made of flexible material in separate sections for the legs, corners and top, each section being independently removable and means for supporting said frame fromthe top only by a movable suspended support.

4. A diaphragm for railway coaches comprising a fabric covering of comparatively light flexible stock made in the form of bellows to collapse and expand with variations in the distance between adjoining coaches, a horizontal rod, a movable support for one end of said rod carried by one of said coaches and a link and frame movably connecting the top of said covering with said rod by a roller engagement.

JAIWES T. TRUMPBOUR. 

